BBC News reports"Mark your diaries for 4 March because in Denver the funeral arrangements are well underway for the planned passing that day of Internet Explorer 6". There's a phobia of being buried alive but I think in this case, it's the living that are all too quick to be shoveling the dirt over as IE6 doesn't officially die until 2014 when Microsoft pull the life-support.

Has javascript now become mandatory to view the web? Not yet, but maybe soon.

Define 'view the web'? For static content, perhaps not - a page for an open-source project say, with documentation, screenshots, info for developers. Gnome.org or KDE.org, for example. Such sites can, and generally do, get by without scripting.

But the web isn't just static content, and hasn't been for a long time now. Can you really picture a Facebook-like site implemented without scripting? Or compare GMail with some of the ghastly non-scripted webmail services of a decade ago.

Define 'view the web'? For static content, perhaps not - a page for an open-source project say, with documentation, screenshots, info for developers. Gnome.org or KDE.org, for example. Such sites can, and generally do, get by without scripting.

I agree - by "view the web" I mean can you take your browser onto the web and generally (1) read content on servers (2) navigate between servers (3) optionally view some media along the way. I don't think I should expect a pixel-perfect rendition of the content as it appears on the graphic designers photo-shop session.

But the web isn't just static content, and hasn't been for a long time now. Can you really picture a Facebook-like site implemented without scripting? Or compare GMail with some of the ghastly non-scripted webmail services of a decade ago.

Facebook is not part of the public web anyway - its a private gated community. It might almost as well be implemented in Flash.

Yes for web apps Javascript is a big bonus. But there are web email applications that don't require javascript, even if they aren't as flashy as Gmail.

I do acknowledge there is always a judgement call about when support for older clients should be phased out. But it is the fact that the web is a public content space that means we should keep accessibility in mind for longer than we might in other contexts.

Facebook is not part of the public web anyway - its a private gated community. It might almost as well be implemented in Flash.

You're missing the point. Yes, Facebook is a membership site, but if it were completely open, the point would still stand - it's a website used by millions of people, and which could not feasibly be built without scripting.

Yes for web apps Javascript is a big bonus. But there are web email applications that don't require javascript, even if they aren't as flashy as Gmail.

Yes, I mentioned those. Never mind being as flashy as Gmail - they're almost universally usability disasters, a consequence of trying to build applications (as opposed to content) while refraining from using the tools to do a good job.

I do acknowledge there is always a judgement call about when support for older clients should be phased out. But it is the fact that the web is a public content space that means we should keep accessibility in mind for longer than we might in other contexts.

If IE6 were the current version, or even the previous current of Internet Explorer, that'd be fair. But it's been years since that was the case, it's been obsoleted in favor of IE7, which in turn has been replaced by IE8. It's a dinosaur that predates the modern web (Web 2.0, if you like buzzwords), and generally isn't worth the effort of supporting.

Much the same argument, I would note, applied to Netscape 4 back in it's day - some people persisting in using it long after development in rivals (like IE6, even) had rendered it obsolete. It's time has passed.